this is news line from buildings in germany heads fatah to lock down restrictions over the festive period retailers hopes of a christmas recovery a dash to stores and schools told to close for when the government says surging to run the virus numbers have led to no choice also coming up the u.s. prepares to launch an historic vaccination if it in its fight against the pandemic does as of the pfizer buying take vaccine if they shipped across the country bringing hope to millions and in german football after a spectacular win of the hoffenheim live accuse and take top spot it was the.

i'm anthony howard welcome to the show germany is set to return to a tata lockdown after chancellor angela merkel announced a raft of tough new coronavirus restrictions official figures today show away kahnawake rise of 4000 new infections deaths related to cut it 19 rose by $188.00 the german economy minister says that corona virus is out of control and that the government cannot white to take further steps and to christmas from wednesday schools and kindergartens will close as well as non-essential shops and services setting the stage for a rather bleak holiday season in germany. on the hunt for stuffing fillers in a 1000000000 toy store the owners have been planning all year for the christmas

rush which will now be abruptly cut short their loved ones yes they are cutting us off right now when we have the biggest sales of the whole year. of course that makes me angry that. it's part of a new more strict coronavirus lockdown announced by chancellor angela merkel amid surging infection numbers. and now due to christmas shopping the number of social contacts has risen considerably that means we must implement these measures they will have a broad impact on many many people we are aware of that. across germany it has become clear in recent weeks the latter restrictions imposed at the start of november have not been sufficient to control the pandemic more and more people are dying with the virus and hospitals are approaching the limit of their intensive care capacity. we have many deaths to mourn.

all watching the statistics it isn't us and we know that the health system is very heavily burdened. and our job was always to avoid overburdening the health system. retail shops will suffer missing out on the most lucrative days of the year in the lead up to christmas and they are only being given 2 days' notice but the government is once again mobilizing billions to soften the blow. if it comes to a complete closure for a whole month we expect to spend just over $11000000000.00 euros for that month. so that shows that this is a very generous support package. i want to say that i think it's absolutely justified to do so i mean he does if you're absolutely sure. it will be a reluctantly quiet holiday season in germany but the hope is that will be also

true for the healthcare system. or for more let's bring in the political correspondent nina hasa neda the numbers are still rising 4000 cases more compared to last monday and 41 more deaths compared to last monday when does this just become too much for the german health care system. america said herself in the press conference on sunday that the health system in germany was extremely heavily bad and already and that the latest measures are necessary to keep the health system from collapsing you have to keep in mind there are currently still some 4600 intensive care unit beds available across the nation but some clinics are already reporting that they don't have any more capacity and of course the big idea is to make it possible for doctors and nurses to get a bit of breathing time as well because of course what's different to the 1st wave

in the spring is that these people have worked nonstop under extreme pressure for months now one must agree the new lock down starting on wednesday is necessary it is also inarguably incredibly expensive costing billions of euros per month how long can germany keep this up. germany was extremely fiscally disciplined until it was hit by the pandemic so it did have a good starting position and it is quite easy for the finance minister who we saw in the report on left choice to just spend billions on compensation for people who are having to close their shops at the moment but of course there are a lot of people are saying that the current strategy of having crisis meetings every few weeks and bringing public life to a standstill in a matter of days and then having to compensate people for closing their shops essentially is not a sustainable strategy anymore and so we already know that there is a plan to meet again on the 5th of january where this topic will also have to be

addressed the name of the public is being blamed for a lockdown law it's not producing the desired results why should we have any faith that it's tough to lock down now it's going to work. i think there is widespread consensus here in germany that essentially we've only got ourselves to blame that the government and the state premiers saw themselves forced to implement those tougher measures from the middle of this week what we saw throughout the autumn was a very mixed picture of measures it depended very much on where you were in the country which measures applied and so this is not a very good strategy if you want to convince people that measures are necessary if the neighbors in town across the border in the next neighboring state have completely different rules and this is the feeling that we get from the government that they say we need to bring public life to a standstill the rules need to be the same nationwide and this is what is going to

change people's attitudes but also hopefully bring numbers down. political correspondent nina thanks so much. well one of germany's most important scientific advisory bodies that they have pulled ina academy issued an urgent call for a nationwide lockdown last week so let's talk now to professor ralph half make he's a member of the academy and also a psychologist professor with a slight this may just be enough to bring the infection right back under control here jim. well 1st of all good morning that's the hope and i think if you look at some other countries who are just something sooner or such are not on such as ireland or france or belgium and there's talk that i mean we're but there are 2 key variables one will be the timeframe i need each and every 10 years will be enough in me have to be extended beyond and the other of course is all

components of the rules and i think it's not what it is to some extent whether it will work or not that might be hard to measure but trying to fatigue same's real people struggling to understand different measures church services being allowed but no walk in the open with more than 5 people and 2 households is politics perhaps failing us by implementing rules that are not logical to everyone. yeah i think that that's an argument if you're quite often and i think it's also fair to say that over the last months germany and the politicians were quite weird often not quite clear in the signalman there was often and make sure all of the different rules and the rules also differed from country to country but i would also like to see that this is a highly complex society like any other society and we only have a small set of rules and of course just all the rules to all those cities that the situation is also

a huge she call complex so in other words incoherence and inconsistency is almost inevitable. well speaking of inconsistency the controls will be relaxed over christmas itself is there a danger or how much of a danger is that this still might become a super spread advent as thanksgiving was in the united states. it's a very important question and there are some reasons that 1 may be hopeful that this is not going to happen what is that as part of the set of measures we have to kind of self harm t.v. in other words before we even meet or enough ones that there's going to be a week of how do we can which we hopefully all need marsal context so that's certainly one important measure the other measures of course again to the extent to which we are complying with the rules and last couple of these i think there's no need to meet a real sense of urgency every team minute person dies off with coronado i think

most of the population has understood that this is we need to change it in fact the support of the new mesh is very hard. i guess with the new measures in monterey also i look back professor and ask why was germany's patia locked down such a failure. another good question i mean just in terms of the numbers we didn't manage to reduce the context you know in spring we had a reduction of 3063 percent just starting wrong you want to manage 43 percent and again there are probably 2 main drivers won't is lack of compliance of all of us and the others is probably a mixed signal politicians and i think politicians the least for too long getting a number stable is actually a stable state and in fact if you have stable numbers of the only very level just new self is a very fresh oil state profess

a rough half acres gemini's leopold academy of sciences thanks so much. thank you thank you very much. well a historic vaccination if it is to get on the way in the united states with the arrival of millions of doses of the coveted 19 vaccine health care workers and nursing home residents are expected to be among the 1st to be given the bind to a vaccine but with the number of coronavirus deaths in the u.s. approaching 300000 it comes to light to many. this is the closest tammy been viet can safely get to her husband has another life hit hard by the pandemic he lies motionless unable to breathe on his own. it's nothing you really want to want to do in my district or a window. hard over the past 2 weeks the u.s. has repeatedly exceeded 2000 covert related deaths per day surpassing earlier

pandemic tolls after surge back in may we were tired we were exhausted and we thought wow i don't know how this could really get much worse and fast forward to now to this week and the surge that we thought we were having that was really nothing compared to what we're experiencing now but a massive logistical effort is underway that will hopefully save lives and ease the strain on frontline workers this weekend the 1st shipments of the biotech pfizer vaccine left the manufacturing facility in the state of michigan this precious cargo is expected to reach hundreds of key sites across the country by monday 2 major package delivery services u.p.s. and fed ex are part of the ground in air operations. i was pretty excited. they just came up and said hey you're going to be one of the few people unloading vaccines for us and you know that's pretty monumental for so

i was pretty excited happy to be helping now this is like i can finally do something about these problems instead of just staying at home so it's great states are responsible for the distribution one supplies arrive frontline workers and millions of the most vulnerable are supposed to get the 1st doses. starting in the u.s. and the electoral college meets today to. because they have votes for the president democrat here joe biden won the majority of the votes but as it's laid out in the u.s. constitution it's the college that actually elects the president now the electoral college itself is made up of some 530 idyllic has chosen from a state to vote on behalf of the citizens and the number of a lake has each state gets depends on how many senators and representatives it has now to when a candidate needs a simple majority that's at least 270 electoral college votes in november joe biden

won 306 electoral college votes to donald trump's 232 california the most populous state has a total of $55.00 electives wyoming the least populist and he has 3 whoever wins the vote in each state wins all of their electives with a few exceptions now a lot of the electors make their vote is then reviewed at a joint session of the u.s. senate and the house of representatives that will be ungenerous 6 count the electoral votes and finally declared the winner. trump support us rallying for him again they won't accept that their president lost the elections and that determined to keep him as their leader around 73000000 americans voted for trump making them a formidable force a force that also threatens to run out of control he loves america it is

loves america he does not quit on america and that's why america will not quit on him i'd like trump to start a new party if he wanted tail in the republican party changing real fast so we're ready we're going to be represented by the soldiers the veterans the hardworking people in this country not by the corrupt politicians and sit up here and get back on our money and steal everything from which. there are many who want to take the republican party down a more moderate path to strengthen their case they talk about this man abraham lincoln he was the president who won the civil war and ended slavery and he was a republican he is the man anti trump republicans turn to when they want to invoke reason and moral values into present day arguments the lincoln project is a political action committee set up by former republicans to prevent donald trump

being reelected i want to hear their thoughts on the future of the g.o.p. from rick wilson one of the co-founders i'm worried about the more competent smart . presentable version of trump that's going to come down the pike in a few years back to me. and enormously concerning impact of trump they're going to be driving the party further and further into the trunk a space which is authoritarian which is nationalist which is highly regimented around the obedience to the dear leader. i also want to hear from a man who sees the new president's democrat joe biden as the driving force for republican party unity called rove a top republican political strategist who is also a contributor for fox news international which is the way liberal in europe i think the republican party will have it you know will have some disagreements and

fractures but that biden ministration in the left where they were going to party are going to are going to be a force for cohesion republicans if he wants to have influence he wants to have it inside a party that has representation in the house the senate and across the country he doesn't want to start a new party. but his supporters leave no doubt that they want donald trump and his family to stay in the white house leaving the g.o.p. to decide whether they want to follow him or risk falling apart in the media ok let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world place of shot and killed the gunman on the steps of new york's st john the divine cathedral shortly after a christmas carol concert attendance for leaving at the end of the event when the mosque man up and file i want else was wounded gunman's motive remains unclear. algerian president abdul majid to burn has made his 1st appearance since he was flown to

a hospital in germany after testing positive for the corona virus tada 75 year old said he is expected to make a complete recovery within 3 weeks. iran's foreign ministry has summoned the envoys of germany and france after the european union condemned the execution of an opposition journalist ron described it as unacceptable interference in its domestic affairs is. was hanged on saturday for his role in protests 3 years ago. while staying with that topic and reporters without borders has released its annual report on journalists who have been detained a missing or held hostage worldwide 387 journalists in detention globally just 2 fewer than last year the biggest jail is china saudi arabia and egypt but the study also saw that an unprecedented crackdown in béla groups which has seen months of unrest since its disputed election the report noted pandemic effect where countries

used the coronavirus crisis to increase control of the media. will be joined now by cedric of yani east asia bureau ahead for reporters without borders biased in taiwan welcome before we discuss your report cedrick as we just heard prominent iranian journalist was executed on saturday provoking international outcry can we please stop with your reaction to that news. this is this is a terrible terrible news and it's unfortunately too for occurrence that journalists in the world are being to victims of assess initiative and in that case of execution decided by a government this it is the only and the world must raise and must be the 1st must show its very very strong disapproval to the iranian regime

your report also highlights china as if to underline the point last week a reporter for bloomberg was arrested in beijing on suspicion of endangering national security can you tell us any more about that case and what perhaps it tells us more broadly about media freedom in china. well since president xi jinping go into power in 2013 there has been new general crackdown on the media and on journalism in china china becomes the world's largest number of children that is today it's with at least 118 journalists or press freedom defenders this is one survey of the global number of journalists detained on the planet so now this crackdown is that it really kind of journalists not the only chinese journalists but also foreign journalists are actually currently 45 years is with the swedes is a swedish citizen named mean high east being detained in china after being of the

abducted of baroda in the case of the children a trillion blown journalist who was also detained since august. and this persecution from the 10s regime on journalists is also extending on foreign correspondents and their sources at least 7 join at least foreign correspondents where expect elda from genesis to beginning of the year and several others had their visa applicants should reject it and just quickly report mentions the pandemic effect where countries have used the coronavirus process as an excuse to further repress journalists what exactly does that mean. well between march and may to a t 20 the number of arrests of journalists in the world was looked about but declared by 4. in the more than $300.00 c.

those directly linked to autism during the course of the at the beach and is yet you still continued to read out in the worst arrests at least $55.00 arrests and down currently 10 detainees enjoy the lists being detained in relationship was dependent each and 7 of them are actually detained in china. subject of yani from reporters without borders thanks so much for your time thank you. to sports now and live it g.'s and has gone top of the standings in the bundesliga i took up the 1st place after a win of a hoffenheim on sunday and then they drove by by me late on by the hit scored twice for live accusing clipping one shot which you're about to say that will certainly be a contender for goal of the season. leon bailey's performances this season have again attracted the interest of several big english clubs there's club scouts didn't have

to wait long for another glimpse of bailey magic. to sure corner routine with natty mary and then the strike a contender for goal of the season 4 minutes gone but if this go with the sublime things went to the ridiculous for opponents hoffenheim just over 20 minutes later on great crown to riches lackluster back pos intercepted by bailey and he did the rest. of my. 2 now the hosts were coasting to the top of the table. 5 minutes into the 2nd half and hoffenheim hit back with a screamer of their own stuff paumgarten looking up and eyeing the corner of the nets. but moments later the to go christian was restored florian vs through the visiting defense after a nice exchange with patrick shake hoffenheim exposed and they ended the game with

9 men in. the final act and lucas allowed a penalty to make it 41 and ensure the business leader has a new name at the top of the table. but also in the bundesliga the league's only winless team shell looks set to clinch their 1st victory but alcs the deny a in the final minutes of a dramatic 2 will droll midway through the 2nd half. into the late swat so that they tested past we'll have shot too hot to handle for the alcs but. does in at a time. i have to point out that his head a dashing shout his hopes to end their winless streak which now stands at some 27. so let's take a look at the bundesliga typo now that shows leverkusen have climbed that top spot

dropping by munich to 2nd line moved up to 4th at the expense of don't and that could change in the coming days because the league's next match is made wake is take a look downstairs for the 1st slide of games kicking off tomorrow in the bottom half of the standings the bottom 3 begin to fill minds and shell well meanwhile dortmund a 2nd a coast lucien father in the wake of their $51.00 defeat to struck out of the weight gain for himself liable to saturday's result a disaster it was dope and forced 4th rather loss of the season and left them 6 points from the top of the bundesliga title assistant coach. as interim head coach until the end of the season. well the british spy brother john has died at the age of 89 after catching ammonia the novelist saw a number of his books turned into films including tinker tailor soldier spy and the

spy who came in from the cold whose real name was david cornwell found some of feeds is inspiration for his thrillers while working for the british secret service . and a reminder of the top story we're following for you this hour. germany's government has announced a return to tata lockdown measures from this wednesday as the country struggles to stop the rise in toronto bars dicts and infection schools in cuba goblets will close earlier than planned ahead of the christmas holidays on essential shops and businesses also shut down. watching the news from science magazine tomorrow today is next on the channel stay tuned for that. news and information around the clock on our website that's to be found at. www dot com if you can wipe the me more news coming at the top of the hour for me anthony how the rest of the team here in berlin thanks for company.

at 1st glance it looks like a scrap heap. but on the 2nd a veritable gold mine. valuable metals are found in almost all of the trial devices . researchers in germany want to separate them from this craft in the most environmentally friendly way because. they're experimenting with highly specialized bacteria to do the. next on.

the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing. what measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information and context. the coronavirus up to the job of special monday to friday on w. i . guess the century for instance rick luck. syndrome antecedents translates. to

seniors a little trusts i mentioned. secrets to success starts december 26th. up. our planet contains many treasures we extract metals and minerals from the ground to use for building roads machinery and computer chips all our technological progress depends on these resources but supplies of raw materials are not infinite in many cases mining them poisons people and the environment.